


Of Scythes and Strawberries

by iexoeris



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Angst, Death, Fluff, Funny, Grim Reapers, Humor, It's better than it looks, M/M, Prison, Reincarnation, Romance, Sad, Weird, idiots to lovers, im tagging bc nobody reads my fics, mentions of past life, please comment if you can
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-05
Updated: 2019-11-05
Packaged: 2021-01-23 15:24:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 14,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21322399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iexoeris/pseuds/iexoeris
Summary: Baekhyun, a grim-reaper took his time admiring the art that was Kim Jongin. He was really active in showing his love for Jongin - not embarrassed because Jongin couldn't even see him, but he couldn't be more wrong. Jongin could see and interact with anything supernatural and he isn't sure how to feel with Death literally following him.Written for Ethereal Kaibaek Fic Fest 2019 Prompt 57Triggers - mentions of death, suicidal undertones
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun/Kim Jongin | Kai, Do Kyungsoo | D.O/Park Chanyeol
Comments: 26
Kudos: 57





	1. Shit

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! I wrote this fic way back but it was refused recently on the basis of breaking rules (triggers) which upset me greatly, because this is a story about grim-reaper :( I was hesitant about posting it on my own account because I have no fan following and I don't think anybody would read this - also I'm not really a good writer - or even a writer but...I hope it won't be a complete waste of time. 
> 
> (Let me know what you think?)
> 
> Also, these characters are purely fictional and have no connections to the original idols. The plot is owned by me - plagiarism will not be tolerated and any resemblance to any other work is purely unintentional (except Goblin).
> 
> That's all. Thank you!

Jongin had always lived an interesting life, as compared to his friends, if having the power to interact with the supernatural was considered ‘interesting.’ His friends – Chanyeol and Kyungsoo lived in the moment and had so many different problems and got angry and emotional but Jongin couldn’t bring himself to worry about minute things when literally, a simple signature by some person dressed in a thrifty cloak could end his life. So, he was often found in situations where Kyungsoo and Chanyeol would be cursing college life away while he played games and munched on chips – as he was doing at that particular moment.

“I got three assignments due! THREE! And I haven’t begun even one.” Kyungsoo shouted out loud, poking three fingers in Chanyeol’s face.

Chanyeol hastily removed the three fingers, “You’ve got three assignments and I’ve got a fucking wedding to plan!”

Jongin gave him a dirty look before popping another chips in his mouth, savoring the salty taste, “It is literally your sister’s wedding. And you don’t have to plan it. You just have to help out your family.”

“Exactly!”

“But you’ll have fun anyway! But listen to me – three assignments, two tests and probably more I don’t even know about!” Kyungsoo shouted and the two started arguing again, while Jongin shook his head and ate chips. He didn’t know why he was friends with these two over-enthusiastic idiots.

He was just eating when suddenly something hit him on the side of his face, causing him to fall off the sofa. He winced and looked at the object that had hit him and saw a pillow. He frowned at Kyungsoo, who had clearly thrown it, judging from the expression.

“What?” He muttered, annoyed.

“Stop being so calm! Dammit!” Kyungsoo threw another pillow at him, which he dodged.

“And start being a maniac like you? Sorry, no.” Jongin said, getting up and brushing his jeans. He fixed his hoodie, before grabbing his keys to his apartment.

“Anyway, it’s late. I’ll see you creeps tomorrow.” He said, before walking out of the door, leaving two maniacal, panic-stricken, broke and hungry college students behind.

  
  


The fresh, cold air hit him in the face when he stepped out onto the main road. It was after midnight, thus the roads were silent. As he walked, he could see some ghosts playing charades with each other on the roadside. There were also some strange blobs of light, flying up in the air. In the distance, in the nightclub, he could see some ghouls wearing knee-length boots and stockings and ragged pink leather clothes. It was a strange world of the mythical. He wasn’t really scared of them – creeped out sometimes? Yes, but he knew that these things weren’t going to harm him. Most of them were powerless and just needed attention.

He walked past the nightclub, after which the dark thickened, the air stilled and silence rang in his ears. Jongin gulped. Something wasn’t quite right. There weren’t any spirits here and the darkness was way too thick to be considered normal. He felt a presence behind him – old, dark and cold. But he didn’t dwell on it. Most ghosts, ghouls, souls and supernatural creatures gave that aura unless he knew them. He kept walking forward, until the darkness got stronger. So this was a strong deity. He shivered slightly and it seemed that for a moment, the road darkened and it became warmer, before cold encased him again. Looks like this person wasn’t just going to pass. He might be going the same way as Jongin. Yeah, of course, that must be it.

He looked around once while walking and saw that there was literally no one. The whole road was dark, empty and silent and Jongin would have liked to claim that he wasn’t scared but the goosebumps on his body and the tightness in his jaw begged to differ. Jongin finally decided to sneak a look back.

He wished he didn’t.

He saw a body, encased in a long cloak. It fell in the face of its owner thus Jongin couldn’t see the face but he didn’t really want to. He wasn’t interested – not when he could see the long, black yet gleaming curved blade in the hands of the owner – a scythe.

Fuck.  _ Fuck. _

_ A grim-reaper. Death. _

He was going to die. He was _ fucking  _ going to die.

Jongin snapped his head forward, away from Death. He had thought that he was pretty chill and calm, but like every human facing death, he sought to escape it and so he ran forwards towards his house. He didn’t know how a four-walled living vicinity was going to protect him from the eternal demise but he just ran…home. When he reached his cheap apartment, with many people and neighbors opening their doors to shout at him and ask him to run slower, he was grateful that he lived there with so many people, and irritating, gossiping aunties. Somehow, these people seemed immortal.

After, he reached his flat, he went inside and locked himself in. He rushed about and closed all the windows, doors and pretty much anything else that might act as gateway for Death. He also put extra furniture and some porn magazines (he didn’t own them) and some other garbage that college life had made him collect including but not limited to – noodle’s cups, plastic forks, open cans, bottles, pizza boxes and other things against the windows and doors. He didn’t think eternal demise would cross such mortal and disgusting territory.

After that, he video-called his friend, Taemin, who was in some party. Taemin was clearly drunk which Jongin was grateful for because this conversation shouldn’t be something Jongin should ever hear about again (if he survived).

“I saw Death.”

“You died? Bro?” Taemin squinted at the camera.

“No, I saw the grim-reaper. I ran away from him. He had a scythe.”

“You drunk, too bro? I feel a little..tipsy.”

“Yeah, I am drunk too,” Jongin lied, “But what should I do about Death?”

“Grandma says that people have hallucinations of the grim-reaper, you know, when someone they know is about to die. I think you’re fine bro.”

“Really?” Jongin breathed out in relief, “Cause I trust your grandma. Her advice is always excellent.”

“She didn’t advise you to move out of your parent’s home and into another state. She said it was sarcasm.” Taemin said, sounding more sober but Jongin wasn’t really listening.

“Yeah, great advice. Thanks Taemin. I’ll see you.”

“Bro-!” The video-chat was cut and Jongin was very relieved after talking to Taemin. Next, he consulted the web. He opened many webs and searched ‘What happens when you see a grim-reaper?’ Most of the answers were that it was nearing Halloween and other ranged from how people saw things when they were tired and like, he was definitely tired. After all the internet surfing, he of course started paying attention to the return of the Jonas Brothers and finding new Sound clouds and soon, he fell asleep with all the worries of the Grim-reaper being erased from his mind.

Next morning, he cursed himself for stocking so much garbage against his windows and doors – it seemed it was night in the apartment and it felt very packed and suffocating. He was sort of grateful though because his house actually looked clean for once, besides it also gave him an excuse for cleaning the place. 

After he was done piling garbage in the black garbage bags, he realized that he was way too late for his class. He hurriedly grabbed his bag and stepped out to opened his front-door, but he wasn’t greeted by sunlight as he had expected since the corridors in his apartment were open. He was greeted by a figure in a black overall. His jaw dropped to the floor.

He had to tilt his head down to look at the… thing properly. The face was cold and pale and Jongin didn’t really pay attention to the features of the face when he saw that the black-hooded figure was carrying a… a scythe. He jumped back into his vicinity and slammed the door shut, breathing heavily. He had already removed all the garbage but he piled all the garbage bags against the front door and locked himself in his room.

Shit.  _ Shit _ . Death…was on  _ his _ door. Literally. 


	2. Sight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter! Comment!

Jongin stayed in his room for a good four hours before he decided that Kyungsoo and Chanyeol’s classes would have ended. He called both of them over. He needed to surround himself by the comfort of his two best-friends and also the mundanity they brought with them. Jongin wasn’t going to tell them about the reaper – he wasn’t that interested in going to a mental hospital yet. So he just camped out inside. He also made himself a blanket fort (or tried to) because it was aesthetic and if he was going to die soon, he wanted to live till the end aesthetically.

The sound of a key opening the door echoed in the hall, and Jongin tensed up, his shoulders stiff and his eyes wide, before he heard the usual squabbling and arguing of Chanyeol and Kyungsoo. However, he didn’t relax until the noise of them closing the door, after stepping inside came to him. Kyungsoo and Chanyeol found him in his mess of blankets and stopped abruptly by the door.

There was an awkward silence for a small duration of time, before Chanyeol exclaimed, “Whoa.”

Kyungsoo looked at Chanyeol and then at Jongin, shrugged and plopped himself on the floor, landing softly on the thick blankets. Chanyeol followed suit.

“So,” Kyungsoo said, reaching out for the packet of nachos placed on one side, “What happened?”

Jongin wondered if he should tell Kyungsoo that he was being followed by a grim-reaper. He really wanted to, probably to gauge his reaction, but he decided against it because he was a kind piece of human shit.

“I just felt…bad today. Like I needed my friends to remind me that things are okay,” He said earnestly. And honestly. He knew both of his friends, no matter how much of dicks they were, would understand, appreciate his honesty and provide him with comfort. After all, that's what friends were for – they were dicks yet they were very supportive.

“But things aren’t okay, though?” Kyungsoo said, popping a nacho into his mouth, “And like what do you mean by ‘feeling bad’ today? Nobody is literal sunlight, Jongin. Suck it up.” He crunched the nacho in his mouth.

Chanyeol reached across Kyungsoo to grab a chocolate bar, peeling the cover off quickly before eating it completely without sharing.

“Exactly. You aren’t privileged. And also, why do you give me the sense that you watched too many highschool drama movies?” Kyungsoo nodded in response and continued –

“No, it seems he got high on Rapunzel and Snow White. Like that was so sappy – ‘I needed my friends to remind me that things are okay.’ Believe me, if there wasn’t so much junk food in front of me, I would have broken off this thing with you and walked away. Immediately. You’re lucky your fridge’s full.” Kyungsoo said and Chanyeol laughed and then Kyungsoo laughed and they just made fun of him. He felt the tips of his ears turn red.

So, no. His friends were complete, pure-blooded dicks. One hundred percent.

“Yah, but anyway,” He said, in an attempt to hint that he actually  _ had _ a problem, “Did you like see a person dressed in a black cloak outside? Looking sorta out of place?” He questioned. They could have seen the grim-reaper if he was outside and was hiding his scythe. Or they could have just seen a potential murderer but at least they'll  _ know _ that something  _ was _ bothering him.

Kyungsoo and Chanyeol looked at him for exactly fifteen seconds. And he allowed himself to think that they  _ actually _ saw something.

Chanyeol and Kyungsoo turned to each other and he almost thought they were going to admit to seeing a strange figure when they said –

“He binge-watched  _ Goblin _ yesterday!”

Jongin slammed his head into his hands. There wasn’t really any need to say how his belief was completely  _ slammed _ to the floor and shattered. The rest of the session continued the same way – Jongin trying to draw some attention towards himself (he told himself that he wanted a last moment with his friends before he died, but in reality, he was completely thinking of how amusing it would be to see them crying after he died and worshipping them and treating him like he deserves to be treated) but failing miserably. And after receiving a ton of comments about how ‘you’re not special’ and ‘you’re not privileged’ he felt down-enough-to-earth to stop thinking about death and after those two left, he was glad enough to go to bed.

The next morning, he played hide and seek with his door and tried to get out without opening the door. And did he even need to tell the results of that experiment? After all, the deities who created this world thought it was necessary to open doors to get out of a building and they weren’t considerate enough of the middle-class and poor people or students who didn’t have enough money to hire guards to protect them from uninvited visitors. And even if he had security, it would have been useless against Death because the security won’t be even be able to see them! And if there was a sort of security against Death, Jongin, a middle-class, human college-student wouldn’t be able to afford it which was wrong in many aspects. Not only was the world favorable towards Death, there was also class division between the poor and the rich and discrimination in between species.

He huffed. And then sighed. And then slammed his fist into the door, opening it abruptly. If Death was standing outside then at least, Death would experience a punch from a door of a human, before carrying him to hell. That was Jongin’s form of revolt against the discrimination. To his good luck (or bad luck, since he wanted to fight against the discrimination by slamming a door into Death’s face), there was nobody outside. He momentarily thought that he swung the door so hard that he accidentally pushed Death over the railing and he even went to check before he remembered that it wasn't Nodame Cantable but real life.

Anyway Jongin was safe. He grabbed his bag and sneaked out of his apartment, still looking out for a dark figure in a cloak. He didn’t spot him and so he walked easily to his classes. The fresh air helped him clear his mind and so did the ghosts and the supernatural creatures. They were really funny, though. Jongin had to accept that the humor in 18 th century was something else.

Jongin felt  _ good _ . 

He stepped in his class with a light-hearted attitude. He talked and joked around with his friends. Of course, his mood was slightly dampened when the lecturer arrived in the class. He didn’t really want to focus on the class – he was threatened by death too many times in the past twenty four to really care about focusing in his class, so naturally owing to his seat being in the back (thanks height) and next to the window (thanks luck), he could easily stare out of the windows and watch people playing in the fields.

That was the intention with which Jongin turned to the window with. He didn’t expect Death to be outside his window. If ever asked in the future, he would deny that he jumped a feet and made a sound like a freaky cat and completely embarrassed himself in front of everyone. Because that never happened. But yeah, anyway, there were all these people who were staring at him, so to avoid their gazes, he could only stare outside the window and unluckily, Death was right there. Apparently for Death, just being outside his door wasn’t enough. He had to attack the windows too.

And the worst thing? Death wasn’t even noticing him. Jongin could only see one fourth of his face, since he turned more towards the fields and his hands were moving and it seemed like he was eating something…? But is that possible? Unless he was feeding on blood or something, Jongin didn’t think Death required food.

Jongin kept staring. At Death. Yeah, he wouldn’t have minded it if you gave him a Bravery Award. After all, he was literally staring at Death without any fear.

The class continued on and the teacher started droning the lesson like a programmed robot and the students just did whatever they felt like. It was at that moment – the extreme point of boredom where Jongin felt that Death wasn’t going to kill him, really. Like the scythe by his side seemed like a prop and he doubted Death would wait for so long before killing him and then, he had heard stories of the scythe being something that Death protected the soul with or Death being fair or something, like a judge and he just felt calm. He was glad he was able to calm down because if he didn’t, he’d be having a horrible panic attack seeing Death outside. The frustrating thing was that nobody else could see him.

The class reached a new point of boredom and it was at that moment that Death turned around to look at Jongin. The things that followed this were fast and happened in a quarter of a second. Death’s eyes widened, his lips opened, his cheeks reddened and he ran away, dropping his scythe before picking it up, dropping something else to the floor, holding the cloak and running away.

Meanwhile, Jongin realized what happened. His eyes were quick and his memory even quicker and he remembered the face turning to him – droopy eyes, a button nose, pink luscious lips and slightly-full cheeks, with a chocolate bar, which was now on the floor, dropped by him, in his hand.

Death was not like he expected – he didn’t have a black, swirling face for instance. He thought about him dropping his scythe and about the blush that had covered his cheeks.

Death was…sort of adorable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Twitter - iexoeris. I write tweetfics!


	3. Stressed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What do they teach you kids in school?
> 
> Anxiety.

To Jongin, every day in college seemed like something that he should celebrate. Jongin wasn’t really _ hyper  _ like his other classmates, who were stressed and done and loud and always on the dividing line between a mental breakdown and the last thread of sanity, so one would think college would be easier for him but no, he was done and tired of dealing with overly-emotional, weird, strange and annoying and loud and silent people. And he was just done of being the only sorta okay one.

That was his tragedy.

He bid goodbye to Chanyeol and Kyungsoo and slumped himself into another round of sighs as he walked towards his home. He was hungry. When he passed through one of his favourite places – an old, abandoned street where all the nice, creative and damn chill ghosts resided (these ghosts were artists in their previous lives. They were damn cool), he stopped for a while to talk to L, a girl, wearing an old Victorian dress with her hair painted in blue and a Yankee cap around her head (don’t even ask him, he doesn’t know).

“So, yeah. All these crazy lot were stressing over the judgement of the governor, back in the 50s while we, dead souls were thinking how this was exactly a repetition of the revolt in the 50s, you know,” She said, flipping a large, (arm-sized large) paintbrush over her shoulders.

Jongin frowned, “I’m confused. You mentioned the 50s two times,”

She shook her head in exasperation, her blue locks tumbling down her shoulders, “Ah, what do they teach you kids?”

“Anxiety.”

She huffed, adjusting her puffy sleeves as she rotated the paintbrush using it as a sword, “The governor was in the previous century and the revolt in the previous-previous century,” She said, “And we all painted the walls – we’re ghosts, they were scared, it was fun – with warnings and why they should avoid that decision, because it happened in the 50s, you know?”

“Wait, how could they know about the governor-problem when this happened a century before?” Jongin used excessive hand motions, trying to join the pieces together and failing.

L snapped in anger, letting her paintbrush fall to the ground, “Ah, seriously? It happened in the 50s! And before you ask, it was a century before, during the reign of the King.”

Jongin rolled his eyes, “I never really liked History.”

L shook her head and was about to say something – a smartass remark or anything that can give Jongin existential crisis, but suddenly, her eyes widened and it seemed as if a shadow had come across them. Her body started shaking and her pupils were blown. She ran away – mixing in with mist and smoke – leaving an arm-sized paintbrush on the floor.

Jongin turned back and saw him – Death.

He was creepily hanging out, leaning against the wall, and smoothing his cloak. His dark, soft hair was in tufts and messy like a – like a puppy. He didn’t think he’d ever be brave enough to think of Death as a puppy. He definitely deserved that Courage award now. In a sense, he was braver than ghosts like L who had lived on the earth for more than two hundred or three hundred years.

Death looked up at him and they locked eyes but there was something strange. Death…tilted his head and looked at him? With these wonderful, beautiful, amazing, soft heart-eyes? What was happening? He continued to look at Death, before the other spoke.

“He’s just standing there and looking at the wall but he looks so handsome. Wow.” To say Jongin jumped was an insult in itself – he almost scaled up the walls and shot right to the moon with the shock he received.

Fuck.

_ What was happening? _

“Aw, he jumped up? That was…cute.” Death said and fuck, his voice – his voice wasn’t what Jongin expected. (But also Jongin didn’t know what he expected because he didn’t think Death would look like an adorable puppy and Jongin though his voice would be deep, scruffy and ancient but he literally sounded like a thirteen year old) His voice was so…sweet.

Jongin didn’t want to deal with this. He thought he saw a lot of abnormal stuff daily but this…this took the gold medal. He would have never,  _ never _ thought that things like – like  _ this _ would happen. And he didn’t know much about the universe but it was  _ wrong _ .

_ The fucking deity of Death having a fucking crush on him was fucking wrong. _

Jongin hurried home, walking in strides – quick strides. When he turned around momentarily to see the panting Grim Reaper behind him, he almost felt pity for the little guy. The scythe didn’t look scary on him anymore – it just looked as if a small kid had been given a big, baggage to carry and the cloak wasn’t anything creepy now, not when the Grim-reaper was continuously tripping, holding and fussing over the length of his cloak and going on about things like ‘I need a  _ little _ bit of height! Please!’

Jongin had seen many adorable people. His niece was really adorable. But the grim-reaper took the cake. He was the most adorable, little creature he had ever seen. But everytime, he thought of it – thought of the word ‘creature’ he felt something gather in his throat – he felt constricted. It just wasn’t natural. At all.

Over time, he started hearing soft curses and humps and puffs of breath, from the grim-reaper and little whispers of ‘he’s so cutteee but why is he walking so fast?’, ‘He’s handsome when he’s striding like a king but my little legs can’t keep up,’ ‘I’m tired of walking, I wish he could carry me?’ – The last one directly made Jongin blush, which of course, his grim-reaper noticed ( _ his  _ grim-reaper  _ UGHHHH _ ) and then the little creature in black pouted – he literally pouted the best, pink, sweet, delicate, soft little pout – and said, ‘Who did he spot? Why’s he blushing?’ And cue the pout growing more defined. The grim-reaper didn’t seem bothered by Jongin turning back to look at him – either he thought Jongin was very weird, or he himself was very weird.

Jongin didn’t know who was weirder – a normal, human guy with the ability to see and interact with the Supernatural or a cute, puppy-type Grim-Reaper? He didn’t know.

All he could think was how far his house seemed (which it was). While Jongin was thinking and being miserable about the distance, the Grim-Reaper took the droop in his shoulders as sadness because whoever it was that had caused Jongin to blush was gone now (How did Jongin know? Well, let’s just say that Death was a chatter-box).

“I wish he would like me back. But he can’t even  _ see  _ me!”

_ Oh, you wish. _

Jongin sighed and continued walking. He didn’t know how he felt about this – he didn’t really feel comfortable with the idea. He was very strange – he would admit that. However, this type of strangeness was on another level.

His grim-reaper, again, noticed the change in behavior and the sigh.

“Oh my,” Jongin heard behind him, “Is he sick or tired? He’s been walking really fast. Perhaps his legs ache. I wish I could give him a massage.”

Cue the blush coming  _ right _ back to spread  _ shamelessly _ down his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Twitter - iexoeris  
Leave comments!


	4. Strawberry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Strawberries can be sweet...and sour.

The next day, Jongin walked towards his classes, only to be greeted by his friend in black. (Yes, he’s been watching some movies again but what about it?) The grim-reaper was quite chirpy that day and Jongin didn’t know how to feel about that (Was he so happy because he damned some souls to Death? Wait never mind, that was a scary thought.)

The Grim-Reaper was skipping behind him, his legs getting tangled in the black cloak and sword slipping down his hands and his hair falling into his eyes. He looked no older than thirteen but yet his aura cast a shadow around him and no other supernatural creature approached them. Heck, even humans and animals subconsciously avoided him – like the lazy dog at Madame Riscover’s bakery, who had never even shifted from his resting position, jumped up six feet high to avoid going six feet under.

It was funny.

What wasn’t funny was the Grim-reaper’s daily commentary –

“He looks even more sun-kissed!”

“Damn, his arms are so strong.”

“Wait, how is it possible for him to look so cute?”

Every single, obscene comment only caused the red on his skin to spread further and darken. He hated this. When he reached school (and the grim-reaper disappeared somewhere, thankfully) Chanyeol even asked him if he had a fever because his skin was so red. He _seriously_ _hated_ this.

  


Classes went on by normal and soon, he was in his last one. He was bored and the lesson wasn’t helping him overcome this mental state, so he did what he usually does – stare out of the window and…there he was. Jongin didn’t jump and scream this time – he just fell off his chair. Cue the class laughing and cue him staring pointedly out of the window to avoid them – and thus forcing him to look exactly at the Grim-Reaper.

Ugh.

If he could, he’d kill Death for messing up his life.

But then again – Death, as of then, was holding a strawberry, wrapped in a plastic – a big, pink strawberry in his hands with as much love as Jongin held his PC. Death was sitting vertically on the bench outside the window, so Jongin could see his side-profile properly. He doubted the latter could see him, unless, he tilted his head up.

He saw the way Death was looking at the strawberry with love and care and how he brought the sweet little thing near his soft, pink lips and nibbled at the edge and gods- Jongin was blushing like a crazy strawberry now. He was having some…thoughts that he didn’t want to entertain. And Death was licking the strawberry and nibbling on it and closing his eyes to relish in the taste and it definitely gave him some ideas that he tried to bury as soon as possible. And his lips were wet and luscious and –

Death turned to look at him and his eyes widened before getting up quickly, the half-eaten strawberry falling to the floor and running away, out of his sight. Just a minute later though, the black figure came back, running and picking up the strawberry, which wasn’t spoilt thanks to its plastic, and running away. Jongin could see how flushed Death was. Wow.

But the thing that Jongin was focused more on was how Death came back to pick the strawberry up – he hadn’t cared much about the chocolate. Looks like Death liked strawberries. And suddenly, his mind started thinking something. He wanted to do something…

The next day, he was seated in his usual seat in the last class of the day a.k.a the class in which he didn’t pay attention. Normally, he’d be forced to stare outside the window but that day, he had the results of the mission that he had already completed to look forward to. The grim-reaper came by, dressed in his black glory, and Jongin turned his head towards the class, so as not to scare him away. The grim-reaper thankfully wasn’t scared and he walked – bobbed – over to the bench and Jongin saw – he saw how the brown, soft eyes _ lit _ up in happiness as he noticed the hand-sized basket filled with strawberries, tied with a pink ribbon (Jongin hoped that stuff wasn’t infected – he found it in his drawer).

He saw as pretty, soft, pale hands opened the ribbon – very delicately – and plucked a strawberry and put it in between soft lips. He saw the happiness, the pure bliss in those eyes – it was beautiful. Death looked more like an angel than Death. He had heard some stories about that – how you had to be pretty and beautiful to be Death or how you appeared to be exquisite or angelic after you died – not attractive but _ divine _, like an inhumane beauty that nobody could compare to and looking at Death, he felt that while Death was very humane as compared to some ghosts, he was also extremely divine.

This realization also tugged his heartstrings as it set in that this divine being had a crush on him. _ Death, _ an unrivalled deity had a crush on _ him, _ a normal, slightly weird guy.

He continued staring outside though, taking in the way, Death ate those strawberries. It was a simple thing, really, but it was sweet. And it was definitely cute. He smiled.

But well, fate had a definite pattern and in the midst of Death enjoying his basket of strawberries, his eyes flickered up and met Jongin’s. But this time, Death didn’t run away. He smiled shyly and continued looking at Jongin who continued looking at him – but Death didn’t know that. It was obvious how his eyes were on watching-mode, instead of connecting and communicating mode (Yeah, that’s how Jongin explained the eye contact. What about it?) Death had a sort of adoring look on his face (Which was kinda scary because he wondered if Death looked at his victims in the same way.)

But that was that.

Jongin kept watching him and occasionally, he also focused on the class and soon enough, he found himself walking back home after the class had ended, albeit a little happy, if the slight spring in his step showed anything. He wasn’t the only one happy though, for, right behind him was his little death guy (Let him cackle in peace) with an equally, if not more intense, spring in his step. The little guy’s smile was definitely wider and cuter.

He was happy and he didn’t mind listening to the Grim-Reapers’ continuous talking behind him, for he had even started to like his voice – it was cute.

But that was until he heard what he was saying.

“I’ll let him take me, seriously,”

“He’ll be nice to me, I guess - the thoughtful and caring type.”

“People look better without clothes anyway and someone who already looks like a God will look even better.”

“I’ll bend for him, wide.”

There was a limit to much thoughts like this Jongin can hear. There was a limit to much more blushing he could handle. And the spoken thoughts – they were all going the wrong way and he had had enough. While Jongin enjoyed the cute and innocent-looking Grim-Reaper’s self-chats, these chats weren’t anything innocent. It was too...wrong. And so, he took the initiative and turned back, effectively surprising the Grim-Reaper into shutting up.

And then he said, “You know I can see and hear you, right?”

The Grim-Reaper was stunned – his lips parted in surprise and his eyes wide. He turned back, to see who Jongin was talking to because he didn’t believe that Jongin could see him. And the possibility of hearing whatever he was saying…nup, impossible. So, who was his crush talking to?

However, after looking back, he saw nobody – not even any other supernatural creature – he wasn’t surprised because he was Death and people and animals and deities and forces normally steered clear off him. So, the only person Jongin could have been talking to was…-

“Yes, you. Grim-reaper, Death, strawberry guy – I’m talking to you. I can see and hear you and I have been hearing everything that you have been saying.” Jongin hoped he didn’t sound rude – he had no intention to – he just wanted to make the Grim-Reaper aware that he was able to see him, because it was a little uncomfortable to hear stuff about yourselves and being forced to pretend that you are deaf. And the reason why he had to use such clear words were because, no offense, but he sort of found Death not that brainy. Like, a cute, little, adorable puppy but not…brainy.

But anyway, even if he had used softer words, the reaction would have been the same as it was now.

Death ran away.

He dropped his sword but this time, he didn’t even bother to pick it up. The sword just dissolved into dust and the Grim-Reaper himself, seemed to be surrounded by clouds and clouds of black and when the scene cleared – he wasn’t there.

Jongin should have been glad but he wasn’t smiling.


	5. Sonder

Jongin didn’t see the Grim-Reaper for the next two days.

And he missed him.

Life was suddenly way too normal (or as normal as it could be when you could see the Supernatural). Nobody tagged along behind him as he walked to class, nobody ate strawberries outside the class anymore, nobody walked him back home and nobody was as entertaining as him.

Jongin wasn’t sure if he missed the strange occurrence that was having a Grim-Reaper as your admirer or if he missed the Grim-Reaper himself but whatever it was, he felt lonely. Even though he was surrounded by people, he felt lonely.

On the third day, on a nice afternoon, while he was talking with a vampire (Don’t worry, not every vampire killed and fed on people) named Sehun, he felt a presence. A strong, dark presence that made Sehun even paler than he already was; a strong dark presence that weighted down on the whole atmosphere, scaring away ghosts and ghouls and vampires alike; a strong, dark presence that seemed ancient, which caused Sehun to grow awkward and walk away; a strong, dark presence that was very familiar to Jongin.

He turned back and he saw him; his Grim-Reaper, awkwardly holding his sword and fixing his cloak, leaning against the wall. The Grim-Reaper noticed him looking at him and Jongin must have been smiling because the Grim-Reaper smiled back in return.

Jongin didn’t know what to do. He didn’t know if he should talk to him or ignore him or whatever. He had no idea how to initiate a conversation and if he should initiate a conversation. The Grim-Reaper fixed that for him, though.

“Feed me strawberries?”

  
  


Jongin found himself walking back home with the Grim-Reaper two hours later – he had found out that his name was Baekhyun. _ Baekhyun _ . Finally, there was a name to the pretty face and it was a pretty name, too. They talked a little. Jongin wanted to ask Baekhyun many questions but to be honest, he was a little afraid and Baekhyun was still shy. So, the sensitive issues had to wait. But overall, the atmosphere between them was really comfortable...and cute, because Baekhyun was  _ very _ shy.

But then, who wouldn’t be after discovering that their supposedly private thoughts about their crush was public exclusively to their crush?

Yeah, well, Jongin didn’t blame him.

Jongin walked on a little ahead, since they were used to Baekhyun following Jongin. Just then, Baekhyun asked - 

“So, that day, was it you who placed the basket of strawberries?” Jongin heard his soft voice, the hopefulness in it evident. 

“Yeah, it was me.” He didn’t know why he felt so weird about it - like, it was just a basket of strawberries - why was he blushing and feeling good, like not good but nervous but good about it. 

“Oh,” Baekhyun said and the butterflies in the bottom of Jongin’s stomach went away. So, Baekhyun was just a tad bit curious - why was he upset about that? He probably expected a bigger response. 

If only Jongin would have turned back, he would have seen Baekhyun blushing and smiling happily - so happily that even his eyes were moist. He was grateful. 

  
  
  


Soon, they were at Jongin’s door. Both of them were standing there awkwardly. What were they supposed to do? Say goodbye and go? But...the way they spent the day - it seemed way too similar to a date and every date ended with a kiss. And even if they didn’t kiss, where was Baekhyun supposed to go? 

It was… awkward.

Baekhyun turned towards him and for a moment Jongin thought he was going to initiate a kiss but no - he was just talking.

“So, I’ll leave now. Thanks for today.” He said, but made no indication that he was leaving and Jongin didn’t move back into his house. 

Awkward.

“Yeah, it was fun. Unique and strange, but fun.” Jongin said, trying to stall a little but he had no idea what he was stalling for.

“The strawberry milkshake and the yogurt was delicious. I… really,  _ really  _ like strawberries,” Baekhyun said, avoiding eye-contact, and looking sideways. And then, Jongin had a idea. He didn’t know what got into him but he said - 

“Well, if you really, really like strawberries,” Jongin mimicked Baekhyun, “Then you should come inside my house. I’ve a lot and… um, I have a strawberry patterned blanket that we can use and we can watch Strawberry Shortcake? That cartoon’s cute.”

Baekhyun didn’t seem like Death when his eyes widened and glimmered. He seemed like an adorable, little puppy.

“Can we?” He said.

And Jongin had no idea how but he found himself saying, “Why not?”

  
  
  


And that was that. As promised, Jongin had gotten Baekhyun another basket of strawberries and some whipped cream. He had brought his strawberry blanket (that he wanted to throw away initially) and they had settled onto his couch comfortably. At least, Jongin had. 

Jongin was a fashionable man. He studied fashion. And thus, he knew about comfortable clothes. Baekhyun’s choice of black cloak wasn’t the cloth that Jongin would opt for, for a sleepover. 

“Um, are you comfortable in that?” He asked tentatively. 

Baekhyun looked at him; aghast. He pondered a bit as if wondering whether to lie or spill the truth. He shook his head - 

“Not really,”

Jongin smiled, “I probably have some clothes of Kyungsoo, he’s my friend, that can fit you. Do you want to change?”

Baekhyun didn’t answer right away and Jongin started panicking - 

“But wait, can you, like, open that thing? Is it something that you can’t open - like, you can only wear that cloak?” Jongin said, because he’s never heard of Grim-Reapers wearing anything other than the cloaks and he didn’t want a supernatural calamity in his house. 

Baekhyun looked at him for a little while; expressionless before he started laughing.

“Wow, your imagination is really good but wouldn’t wearing a cloak - and only a cloak - be inconvenient but then again, I don’t have any other clothes. Mortals can’t see me - you’re an exception - which means I can’t shop,” He explained and Jongin felt a little stupid - just a little, because, hey, even though he could see the supernatural, he didn’t come with instructions about every one of them. And Grim-Reapers were rare. Unless, you caught someone right at the verge of dying, you wouldn’t see a grim-reaper. And he never had the agony of seeing someone die right in front of his eyes - hence, never the pleasure of seeing a Grim-Reaper.

And other supernatural creatures were scared of them - most of them were humans avoiding death (without the capital D) such as ghosts, vampires - who had lived for too long, ghouls - who were needed in hell and other creatures. Beautiful or not beautiful but light energy or natural energy creatures hated them due to their dark energy, such as fairies, gnomes, pixies and mermaids. And dark creatures hated them because they had supremacy and power. And humans didn’t like them for obvious reasons.

Grim-Reapers were really mysterious. 

_ But not this one though _ , Jongin thought,  _ Baekhyun was a cute, little puppy who liked strawberries and just happened to have control over death.  _

Jongin went into his room - followed by Baekhyun - and got out Kyungsoo’s only clothes that he had - a ‘Black is the Revolution’ tee (which didn’t suit Baekhyun but probably suited his Grim-Reaper status) paired up with black shorts, which Jongin didn’t feel that good about. Baekhyun probably didn’t too but he managed to convince Jongin that it was okay. 

“So, what will we be doing?” Baekhyun asks, while eating the strawberries - nibbling on them. Cute.

“We can watch a movie. That’s a classic to do.” Jongin suggested, already grabbing a Disney movie. They were classics too. 

“Classic? I love that word,” Baekhyun said, still munching on a strawberry, “It’s funny how it’s meaning has changed throughout the years. From fighting in the streets with swords, to watching movies - classic.”

Jongin stilled. He looked at Baekhyun, “Just how old are you?”

Baekhyun pouted, “I don’t really remember, but I know that I awakened two decades ago.”

“Awakened?” Jongin turned to look at him, “Were you sleeping?”

Baekhyun shook his head defensively, “No, no. I’m an early riser. I was… put to sleep.”

“Why?” Jongin had never heard of something like this.

“I am not a grim-reaper because I sinned - or maybe I did - but it was a different kind of sin. Because of that, I am not suffering that bad. I have a goal, you see. A goal and then, I can live my life as a normal being - age and stuff.” Baekhyun explained. He didn’t say it seriously though. He was still eating his strawberried. 

“And what’s your goal?” Jongin asked slowly, because he didn’t want to make Baekhyun uncomfortable. He was worried that the mood between them will be ruined and also, Baekhyun  _ was  _ a grim-reaper with a scythe that lay on Jongin’s carpet. He didn’t want it on his head.

“My goal is to find my soulmate. True love.” Baekhyun said it casually, as if it wasn’t anything heavy. 

Jongin frowned. For some reason, his attitude...bothered him.

“And how is the hunt going?” Jongin asked.

“It’s not.” 

“Excuse me?” Jongin looked at him in surprise. Baekhyun looked up at him too, sitting cross-legged, with his thighs on display and a strawberry in his mouth. His eyes are wide. 

“I said there is no hunt.” He said.

“But don’t you have to find your soulmate?” Jongin asked, his voice low and confused.

Baekhyun shrugged, “That’s the curse, maybe. I’ve given up before I began. I do not want to bother a soul, besides humans can’t even see me, and the last time I saw my soulmate, he was happy enough without me.” 

“You’ve seen him?” Jongin’s eyes were wide. Somehow it felt like he was getting top-notch supernatural gossip from Baekhyun, but it was still serious. He didn’t understand why someone so cute and … puppy-like Baekhyun was so...off about his soulmate and his issues. He didn’t like this ‘I’ve given up before I began’ attitude. It didn’t seem like Baekhyun at all. 

Baekhyun pouted, “I  _ have  _ seen him, yes, but I don’t want to bother him. So I’ll be a nice grim-reaper and I won’t.”

Jongin still couldn’t wrap his head around it, “What was your sin?”

Baekhyun cast his eyes downwards, “I - is it okay if I don’t talk about it?”

Jongin’s heart was panicking at a very fast speed, “Of course! Of course! It’s completely okay! COMPLETELY FINE! Let me get you some strawberry yogurt.”

Jongin ran away from the couch and opened the door of his fridge harshly, causing some contents to slip out. And then there was a ringling sound. Jongin’s eyes widened. Baekhyun was laughing. He looked out at the strawberry-man and saw how his eyes crinkled around the corners and how his face just...brightened up. Wow...this must be magic.

The rest of the night passed smoothly.


	6. Search

The next day, Baekhyun dressed up in his behold-my-dark-wrath-grimreaper-edition skipped beside Jongin, as they walked to uni. 

“So, Jongin-ah, what do you do in uni?” Baekhyun asked, sounding really bright and happy.

“Umm...I study?”

“You don’t sound sure.”

“I just...pass my time, and sleep.” He shrugged. 

Baekhyun pouted, “But shouldn’t you be studying? So that you become rich.” Baekhyun clearly had the human education system figured out well. 

“I want to become a dancer,” Jongin said, blushing a bit since it was...kind of private.

Baekhyun’s eyes were so genuinely curious, “ _ Really? You dance?” _

“Hmm...yeah, I do,” Jongin smiled.

“Jongin the dancer?”

“Actually, I dance under the name of ‘Kai.’ I like to keep my identities different you know.”

“Whoa.” Baekhyun looked like a kid who had been shown some quantum physics. 

“What’s so surprising about that?”

“Just… whoa.”

Jongin laughed loudly.

“It reminds me of someone,” Baekhyun’s voice lowered down a bit, “In the early 15th Century, there was a prince. He was the smallest child of the really old king. At that point, I was flying through time and events. I was searching for somebody. And I think - I know it was the prince I was searching for. He had a really private life. After the king died, when the prince was twelve, he was locked into his castle by his brothers. But there was a man - a really beautiful dancer that came out of nowhere and shook everybody with his elegant dance. But the brothers came to know the dancer was the prince, because of a servant, and they had him killed.”

A shiver went through Jongin’s skin, “That’s a...really hurtful story.”

“Yes, it is.”

“Was the servant evil?”

Baekhyun was taken aback for some reason, “No, they weren’t. They happened to be in love with the Prince and… love always brings tragedies. That’s why accidents happened and the brothers got to know.”

“The prince was also in love?”

“Yes, he was. But the servant didn’t know that.”

“So, after he died, what became of the servant?”

“Hung themself.”

Jongin winced, “That’s harsh.”

“Very so.”

A melancholy silence surrounded them for the rest of the way. 

  
  
  
  
  
  


That afternoon, Baekhyun again came back to walk Jongin home. 

“Hi!” He chirped to a tired and done Jongin.

“Hello.” 

Chanyeol went towards Kyungsoo and leaned down to whisper in his ears, “We’ve lost Jongin. He’s talking to air.”

Kyungsoo smacked him down the head, “We already lost him a few days ago, you fool!”

  
  


“Jongin, what’s your major?” Baekhyun asked. 

“I’m in communication and stuff,” Baekhyun noticed how Jongin seemed really tired. 

“Did you have a rough day?” He asked cutely.

Jongin stared at him a second; overwhelmed that somebody asked him about his day. Chanyeol and Kyungsoo could never. 

“Um, Jongin are you crying?” Baekhyun looked so worried. 

“No, Baekhyun. A man doesn’t cry,” He said as a tear rolled down his cheek, “I’m just touched you cared about me.”

Baekhyun was blushing, “Of course I care about you.”

Jongin wanted to start sobbing, “I care about you too!”

Kyungsoo elbowed Chanyeol, “He’s a nutcase.”

Chanyeol shrugged, “I need to ask him what he smoked.”

Kyungsoo slapped Chanyeol, “Drugs are bad! Don’t you dare!”

The on-lookers just walked past.  _ These people probably pulled too many night-overs to study. Normal stuff.  _


	7. Sweet

For the next few weeks, this was their pattern. Go to university together and return back together, and some days they’d have sleepovers. Baekhyun and Jongin. Jongin and Baekhyun. And recently, Jongin had started bringing Baekhyun to his dance performances. Baekhyun was surprised to see how wild and ferocious Kai was. He was absolutely enchanted. Their friendship was sailing smoothly, but of course, they couldn’t forget Baekhyun was a grim-reaper.

“Nini, I can’t come to your performance today,” Baekhyun seemed like he was ready to cry.

Jongin was disheartened but he didn’t want to make Baekhyun feel worse, “Oh, are you busy?”

“There’s going to be an accident at six. I need to collect their souls.”

A chill went down Jongin’s spine, and he eyed the scythe, “Oh, well then, see you.”

And sometimes, it would be Jongin running away from Baekhyun.

“Nini! Hug me!” Baekhyun would be crying.

Jongin ran faster around his room, “Baekhyun, I’m not hugging you.”

“Why not!?”

“Put that  _ damn  _ scythe down first!”

And sometimes, Baekhyun would make fun of Jongin.

“Nini, we don’t have cutlery.”

“Oh, we don’t?” Shuffling, “Ahh~ we don’t.”

“It’s okay. I’ll eat with my scythe.”

Jongin smiled, “I’ll go and bury myself.”

It was all fun. But underneath it all, there was this tension. 

“Oh MY GOD!” Jongin screamed shrilly. Baekhyun jumped back. Kyungsoo and Chanyeol stood guiltily.

“You guys were touching lips!” Jongin looked like he had lost his innocence in a day. 

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes, “It’s called kissing, mind you.”

“YOU WERE KISSING?” Suddenly, Jongin’s face whitened and Baekhyun, frowning checked the ‘death list’ to see if Jongin’s name was there; it wasn’t. Jongin wasn’t dying today. Baekhyun smiled. Good news. 

“Yes, we were kissing.” Chanyeol muttered.

“Are you admitting that you were doing what we built the ‘anti-kissing’ club for?” Jongin...was hurt, betrayed, confused, lost, miserable, and nearing the edge of his existence. Life was a joke. If Chanyeol and Kyungsoo could kiss and grim-reapers could like him, then life was a joke. He’d finally lost it - the will to live. There was no meaning to life. It was a humorous, dead serious, controversial  _ joke. _

Chanyeol gulped, “Jongin,” He pointed to Kyungsoo and snaked an arm around the shorter, “We’re in a non-platonic romantic relationship. We’re dating.”

Jongin cried. 

  
  
  
  


Baekhyun didn’t know what to do. He was stuck patting Jongin’s back. The dancer wouldn’t stop crying. Chanyeol and Kyungsoo had left to their ‘relationship-heaven’ leaving their crying friend. It angered Baekhyun more than it should have. He wanted to throw strawberries at them...or castrate them...with his scythe. Yes, he’ll do that. But Jongin was way too soft-hearted for that kind of gore. 

Suddenly, Baekhyun leaned down and planted a kiss on Jongin’s head. The latter suddenly stopped sobbing and moved up to stare at Baekhyun with a very lost look, that melted him. 

“What - what did you just do?” 

“Can I do it again?” Baekhyun whispered softly.

Jongin didn’t say anything, but he leaned his head down which was a form of permission. So Baekhyun bent down and planted a firm kiss on top of the dancer’s head. Butterflies fluttered in his stomach. Jongin looked up. His bronze skin looked darker - he was blushing. Baekhyun, who had deadly white skin, was probably glowing like a red tomato. 

“What -” Jongin said, shaking his head. He was just lost.

“I did what you built your ‘Anti-kissing’ club against. Are you angry?” Baekhyun’s eyes immediately looked downwards. What if Jongin was angry? He’d castrate  _ himself  _ if that happened. He won’t be able to take it. His heart would burst open in strawberries. 

“No, I’m not. It seems I can never get angry at you,” Jongin was smiling. 

Baekhyun smiled too, much too bright for the fact that he was Death, “Then can I do it whenever I want?”

Jongin licked his lips, “That should be fine.”

So, for the next few weeks, they shared many kisses. Forehead kisses, head kisses, and cheek kisses. Platonically of course. Jongin, at this point, had stopped wondering how wrong kissing was because it felt damn good when his lips brushed against Baekhyun’s soft, smooth skin or when rose petal lips brush against his skin. It felt hella good, and Jongin couldn’t help but stare at Baekhyun’s lips more and more as the days went by. He couldn’t stop.

Platonically.  _ Of course. _


	8. Stupid

“How did your test go?” Baekhyun chirped as soon as Jongin escaped from the huge building that was his university. 

Jongin’s deflated shoulders and lack of smile already gave Baekhyun the answer, “I’m going to fail.”

Baekhyun pouted and pushed a curl behind Jongin’s ear, “Don’t say that. You worked hard.”

Jongin sighed. Baekhyun was so ethereal and beautiful. And really cute. It was a shame no living soul could see him. 

“Nini?” A confused glance. A pout. Frowning eyebrows. Cute, little eyes looking at him, and  _ only him. _ It was probably for the better that nobody else could see Baekhyun. Jongin didn’t want that gaze to be seen by other people. It was for him,  _ only him.  _

_ Oh how badly he wanted to kiss that pout away. _

Jongin’s body paused. Wait. What did he think just now? Where did that come from? It seemed as if Jongin couldn’t function properly. And Baekhyun, that  _ clueless idiot,  _ kept worrying -

“Nini, are you ok? Jongin? Hey!” Eyes that were blinking at him continuously. Pretty hands that flew in and out of his sight. The world had faded to the background.  _ Baekhyun had a mole above his lips. How had he failed to notice that?  _ Jongin couldn’t contain himself anymore. He moved forward and crashed his lips against those dainty pair of rose petals. He didn’t care if onlookers thought he was insane. He didn’t care about the fact that he was kissing a grim reaper. He didn’t care about the scythe hanging from Baekhyun’s waist. 

Because at that moment,  _ he was kissing Baekhyun.  _

Those lips that he had craved so badly without even knowing were  _ so  _ soft. Rose petals were shamed. The sharp, small teeth were so cute. Baekhyun was  _ so  _ small. 

He didn’t care about anything.

But then, he felt lips moving against his. Soft lips moving against his.

Baekhyun was kissing him back.

Jongin’s eyes widened and he pulled back. For a split second, he saw Baekhyun’s face. His eyes were closed, eyelashes dropping gracefully onto his cheeks. His nose looked so adorable. His lips were parted and pucked. He looked heavenly, like an angel descending from heaven. Like a goddess kneeling. He was so beautiful. 

For a split second, he saw Baekhyun’s face. And in the next second, he saw the road. 

Jongin was running. 

  
  
  
  


Baekhyun stood there. He simply didn’t move. For once, he was grateful that nobody could see him, because he didn’t want to be seen in tears. Throughout his existence, he’d been birthed many times, and the pattern was that he was always the person that wasn’t allowed to show his emotions and cry. He was always the one that initiated things. He was always the one that felt heartbreak. Yet, he was always the evil one in the end. 

He had thought this time would be different. He had thought he’d never find his soulmate, and never go through the pain of losing him again...because of Baekhyun’s mistakes. 

Yet, when Jongin kissed him, he realized how stupid and wrong he was. 

Fate hadn’t fooled him. It  _ had  _ given him another chance to make everything right. 

But...but the chance had ran away. 

And Baekhyun...was already in too deep to hurt him  _ again. _ Even if Jongin gave him strawberries.


	9. Set

That night, Jongin called Taemin. 

Thanks to Jongin’s timing, the latter was drunk.  _ Again.  _

“Whoaaaaa Bro!” Taemin shouted into the phone. Jongin sighed. Maybe a drunk Taemin was better to talk to.

“I’m an idiot.”

“Writing your autobiography?” Okay, maybe Taemin wasn’t  _ that  _ drunk.

“I kissed someone. And when they kissed me back, I ran away. I’m an idiot. What do I do?” 

“Who did you kiss?”   
  


“A grim-reaper.”

There was a constant throbbing disco on the other side, “Hmm...makes sense why you ran away.”

“No,” Jongin sighed, “I ran away because it was at that moment I realised I liked him, and that I was gay. I...panicked. Shit, Taemin, he kissed me back and I panicked.” Jongin hadn’t even realised but he was crying. His vision was blurry and wet and his shoulders were shaking. Scratch crying, he was  _ sobbing,  _ “He kissed me back...and I ran away. I fucking ran away. I hate myself.”

There wasn’t any reply and Jongin would have thought that Taemin cut the call but the throbbing disco filled the silence in the dark room. Jongin’s sobs accompanied the beat. 

Taemin clicked his tongue, “That isn’t what you should be doing now, Kaibear.” 

Jongin looked up. There was only the dull blue light of his phone on the bed. 

“You tell me - do you like that grim-reaper?”

Jongin thought about it - about baekhyun. Even in his thoughts, Baekhyun appeared as a gradient, shining figure. Looking at him with a bright smile, his hair catching on the sunlight, his robes flying around, scythe tucked in his waist and a hand outstretched for Jongin to take. He was so bright. 

Jongin might be in love with him.

“I like him,” Jongin said. His heart fluttered and chest started to weight with heavy emotions -  _ Baekhyun, “ _ I like him a lot. A lot. Very much. I may even be in love with him.” He sobbed.

Taemin slurred when he spoke but Jongin understood, “Then, maybe you should tell him that before you can’t.”

Something clicked in him. Something set itself in his mind.  _ Baekhyun.  _ He needed to find Baekhyun and set things right. Jongin was already moving, putting on his shoes when Taemin said -

“Besides, we all knew you were gay as hell Kaibear,”

  
  
  


His footsteps clashed against the hard pavement. He ran fast, out in the empty streets. They were empty because it was after midnight. Jongin had wasted the whole day. Suddenly, he saw orb-like ghouls on the corner of the street. Jongin ran towards them -

“Have you seen Baekhyun!?” He shouted.

An-old grandma ghoul, wearing dark makeup frowned, “Eh? Haven’t heard ‘bout that folk.”

“The grim-reaper,” Jongin gasped out, “The one tha drags his scythe.”

The ghoul jumped and looked spooked (wow, ghouls were spooked) by the mention of that name but she lifted her hand up and pointed to the left, “He - he went to the tower.”

“Which tower?”

“The tallest one.” 

Jongin frowned. He was about to ask more when the ghoul suddenly escaped from between his legs. This was problematic. He still found it hard to believe that some people, or well non-people were shit-scared of Baekhyun, but then they were scared of his scythe, just like he used to be. 

But Jongin didn’t have much time to ponder about all that. He steadily ran towards the main dark streets, where he figured most ghosts and ghouls should be. And he wasn’t wrong. He caught onto the dissipating arm of a spirit and asked about the whereabouts of Baekhyun. 

“He - Lotte.” The spirit disappeared with a puff of air. 

Jongin frowned. This was confusing but he wasn’t stupid. The tallest tower...Lotte - it could only mean the Lotte tower, the tallest tower in Seoul and the fourth tallest building in the world. Baekhyun was there. Jongin quickly hailed a cab to the area. The driver was confused -

“Lotte closes at 11 though…?” Jongin made some excuse, something like ‘a friend is waiting near that area’ and hurried to Lotte Tower. As a citizen of Seoul, he had been to the Lotte Tower a few times, so he was familiar with the area, but he had no idea where Baekhyun was...and Lotte had more than 120 floors. 

Jongin sighed. This was difficult but he wouldn’t give up. 


	10. Sorrow

There was a roar and suddenly a multitude of things happened. Two ghosts whizzed by his ear and slammed into the gates which shook and rambled. The startled security guards immediately stood on attention and other ghosts started trying to strip them. Jongin laughed out of delight. This was wonderful! There was an alarm that was shut off by Cherry and Mihawk-ie-uwu opened the gates.

L looked back at him with a grin; her Victorian dress catching the wind in its hold, extending an arm out for him-

“Care to run?”

Jongin gave her a wide smile and grabbed her hand. And then they were running. 

  
  
  
  


The tall building seemed to tilt as they ran towards it. Baekhyun was in this building. Jongin ran faster towards the mall. There were more security guards but they didn’t see him. How could they, when there were two ghosts pouring water at them? This was so funny. 

They entered through the door in the mall. The shops were closed. Jongin immediately ran towards the working elevator with the ghosts in pursuit to go to Seoul Sky Deck or whatever. The rows and the walls of the entrance of the observation was dark. Alright now out of all the one-twenty-three levels, where could Baekhyun be? 

“Can you sense where he is?” 

L shook her head, “Sorry, my GPS is not  _ that  _ on point.”

“Your GPS?”

“Ghost Positioning System.”

Jongin looked at her with a straight face, “Let’s go on floor 120.”

They started running towards the elevator, “Why 120?”

“Because that’s where the observation deck it.”

  
  


The lift went up - it was an awfully fast lift, the fastest ever, with realistic animation showing around Seoul in animation planes all around the lift. But then it stopped. When the lift showed the view over a bridge, the lights buzzed and died out. There were shouts.

Jongin’s eyes widened. Was the lift about to fall down…? That would kill him. 

“No, you idiot.” L said, “This is a capitalist world. You think they’d damage their lift?”

“How’d do you even...You know what? Never mind. How do we get out?”

L looked around, “Well, as for me, I can just walk out. But you…”

His breath stopped, “No.”

She shrugged, “I have an idea. I’ll go out and try to get you out.”

Before Jongin could disagree, she slipped out, leaving him alone in a lift one-hundred and seven floors up the earth, with no lights. And while Jongin wasn’t afraid of the dark, there was a moment in everyone’s life when they were afraid of the dark. His, sadly, happened to cross him now. There were no lights! The LED screens reflected darkness onto each other. He couldn’t see anything!

But then, the door opened. Cherry stood outside, with a tool box clutched to her chest -

“So, I’m a genius, aren’t I? They said when Pascal died, I was birthed.”

Jongin was feeling overwhelmed with gratitude, so he quickly hugged the red-headed goth, “Yep, you are. You’re more genius than him.”

When he pulled back, Cherry was blushing, “Stop flirting with goths, Jongin. Go and get your man!”

And Jongin realized the extent of his feelings for Baekhyun the moment he willingly started running up the stairs, with firm determination. Only thirteen floors to go. Being a Seoul city boy, he’d never really used stairs  _ that  _ much. This...was new. Running pumped blood into his veins and tired his muscles out, but even when he closed his eyes, he could only think about Baekhyun. He was so close.

“Yah, Jongin!” L called out. She looked nervous, “What if Baekhyun isn’t on the one-twentieth floor?”

Jongin panted, sweat beads cascading down his chin like a riverfall and as his eyes looked forward onto the stairs, he felt a tug on his gut; something superficial; something magical and he said -

“No, he  _ will  _ be there.”

They managed to reach the observation deck, or well  _ he  _ managed to reach it. The ghost gang had to fall back to annoy the security. Jongin didn’t have much time, before the Security got their shit together and put him behind the bars. He ran towards the glass-laid deck, but then he stopped.

Cold, harsh wind blew in the packed room. A dark shadow loomed right at the glass deck. A cloak fluttered around in the wind, and a scythe caught on to the light and gleaned maliciously. Jongin’s eyes almost welled up with tears.  _ He was there.  _

“Baekhyun!” He called out, and cinematically, as if they were acting out a script - a messed-up script, the reaper turned towards him, shining in the light of the city below, yet casting a dark shadow on everything. His eyes were obsidian, cold, and Jongin wondered if this was the boy he knew as the ‘strawberry cutie.’ Baekhyun looked scary.

  
Yet, he looked regally beautiful. 

The maturity and the beauty he exuded was unmatched to humanity, thus Baekhyun was death - a mural higher than those piny tiny beings could reach. 

“Jongin,” He regarded. His voice was cold,  _ foreign.  _ His posture was straight; he seemed so different, so unapproachable, that Jongin wanted to give up. 

Baekhyun was scaring him. 

But he couldn’t let himself be  _ scared  _ right then. 

He needed to make things right.

“Baekhyun, I - I’m sorry. I kissed you, because I genuinely like you, however, I realized that only after I kissed you. I came to the terms that I was gay, and in love - or was harbouring very deep affectionate feelings for you - that is why I ran away. I needed to think.” Jongin couldn’t see Baekhyun very well, but it seemed that his eyes were shining. Was he...was he crying? Jongin surged forward.

“And I’m sorry, but I want another chance. And I want to do things right.” Jongin bared himself, yet maybe he wasn’t bare enough. Light skidded past the dark room and in that little but precious light, Jongin soaked himself and fell onto his knee, baring himself of all human facades he carried and all that he was and he looked at Baekhyun - the god whose cloak withered around like a powerful black whip, “Baekhyun, would you please accept my confession?”

Baekhyun’s eyes were definitely shining - like pearls in the depth of the ocean. A shiny particle of that pearl rolled down his cheek - 

“Jongin, you don’t know. I will only hurt you.”

The scythe, that was securely lying by Baekhyun’s waist, seemed to have ripped his heart out. 

“I - I am a grim-reaper. And there’s a reason why. I - Jongin,  _ you  _ are my soulmate,” His voice wasn’t loud yet it echoed in the walls and in the skies and in the seas and the heaven and hell, “I - my curse, you can break it, but… I can’t let you be hurt again.  _ Never!” _

It thundered outside. Dark clouds quickly gathered around the outer side of the glass Baekhyun was standing upon. It was a statement. 

“What - what are you saying?” Jongin mumbled. 

_ But he knew.  _

“The dancer - Jongin, the prince - it was you. And it was I, the maid, that cost you your life,” The sky thundered fiercely, lightning dancing around in the woven dark misery.

“Baekhyun,” Jongin pleaded, “That was your past life. I don’t even remember it. Don’t let it ruin what we could have in the future.”

“ _ You don’t know a thing!”  _ He was wailing, and Jongin wanted to hug him, but he stopped because the grim-reaper unleashed his scythe, “You see this? I got this because I’ve hurt you, in every life. Every time you were my soulmate, but we could never be together. And in the last one, I - I finished myself, Nini, because I couldn’t bear losing you again.” His voice has quietened down towards the end, and Jongin understood why Baekhyun was a grim-reaper. His tears fell down too, like shards that could break the soft glass underneath them. 

“Baekhyun, don’t - just don’t hurt yourself. You’re not hurting me. Look! I’m fine. And I’m in love. And I want you. Please,” He begged, “Don’t take yourself away from me. I need you.”

Baekhyun sobbed, and the sound echoed widely. It hurt even more than being half-rejected. It felt as if Jongin had swallowed the scythe; unable to get it out and unable to make it pierce his heart. 

Behind them, there were shouts -

“ _ I think someone’s on the observation deck!” _

_ “Get them!” _

The sound of people running. Time was running out.

“You’ve kept yourself alone for so long; you’ve waited for decades. Allow yourself some love Baekhyun. Don’t kill yourself. Allow yourself to...come in my arms,” Jongin spread his arms. He was Jongin - as in dancer kid, college, crazy Jongin but his heart felt matured. Suddenly, it felt as if the emotions of all the people he’d lived as, who’s loved Baekhyun only to end up alone, cascaded and clashed together. 

Baekhyun didn’t come forward.

“Baekhyun!” He wailed.

“ _ He’s there! I see him!” _

“Baekhyun, please.” Jongin was sobbing uglily. He couldn’t help it. No, this cannot be happening. Baekhyun - no!

The grim-reaper shook his head, “Jongin-ah,” He smiled angelically, “I’m sorry,”

Guards rushed into the room, shouting loudly, armed. The storm continued and Baekhyun - Baekhyun leaned back, forming a graceful arch, like a taut bowstring before he crashed into the glass panes which shattered and he fell back into the clouds, disappearing in feathers of black, which sprawled across the perimeter. One feather fell right at Jongin’s chest, before falling into his hands. It was his broken heart. 

The ghosts rushed in but they were too late; there were cuffs around Jongin’s wrists and he was being dragged out. The last thing he saw before he forced his body to shutdown was the storm dissipating and the glass panes fixing on its own. The feather gleaned in the light. 

Baekhyun had run away, and he’d taken more of Jongin with him than he’d left behind.


	11. Serendipity

Jail wasn’t the best place to stay in after a major heartbreak, but that was the best Jongin could do. 

So, he sat there in a cell, with his head against the cemented cool wall, staring at the metal bars. His cheeks were dry and itchy, because he had been weeping for a long time now. He had never felt so...empty. The ghost party stood around him, in the cell, outside the cell, all around the area, looking sad and miserable. L was crying. 

Jongin just wanted all of them to leave. 

He needed to be alone. 

The stinky, damp and salty smell all around wasn’t per se, unpleasant. He just wanted to sob more, and nobody would question why he was crying. It was only common to cry in a jail right? He felt so sad though, that he felt he might cry in the happiest place ever. His heart wasn’t even beating. It lay there, lump of hurt, and loneliness and pain that was his to carry till the end of his life. 

He wondered if he died Baekhyun would come to collect his soul. Then, Baekhyun would first have to submit himself since he had the biggest part of Jongin’s soul. Jongin had heard of phantom pains in amputees' bodies. Right now, he felt phantom pains throughout his soul, yearning for the treasure that he had lost. What a cursed pair they were! They either ended up dead - physically, and sometimes, they ended up feeling like dead. 

Another tear slid down his cheeks. 

“Jongin-ah,” L sobbed, “I’m so sorry. We tried to stop the police. We...failed.” Jongin wanted to smile and tell her it wasn’t her fault - it wasn’t. But he couldn’t smile. He couldn’t talk. He wasn’t upset because he was in prison, and a criminal - no, he was hurting because he was as empty as he could ever be. 

“Jongin…” Cherry whispered, her head down, and Jongin sighed -

“You...guys should leave,” He said softly. 

“But-!”

“Please,” He pleaded, and slowly the ghost gang dissipated, leaving him even more alone than ever. And then, the sobs started building up in his chest. Baekhyun was gone. The ghosts were gone. Chanyeol and Kyungsoo would never understand. Taemin would never learn. His family wouldn’t believe. He was all alone. 

  
  


All alone.

Maybe, the ghosts and Baekhyun were all his imagination. How he wished they were! He would rather be insane than broken and alone and lonely. 

Lonely. 

All alone. 

“Jonginnie,” A soft, familiar voice filled with warmth. _It can’t be. _He didn’t dare look. 

A sob that completely sucked the air out of Jongin’s chest.  _ No.  _

“Jongin -”  _ Sob, “ _ I- I’m sorry. I’m an - an idiot.”

He wasn’t going to look.  _ No.  _

Another sob that wrenched his heart out.

He looked to his side and there he was. 

_ Baekhyun.  _ He was sitting on the floor, outside the bars. His black robe lay all around him like some sort of garden, full of black roses. His little face was a little red, full of  _ life,  _ crying and wet.  _ So hurt.  _ His hair was a mess. And his eyes - his eyes looked at Jongin with a multitude of strong, painful yet...somehow beautiful emotions.

“ _ Jongin!”  _

Jongin couldn’t do this. He extended one arm out through the gaps of the bars and wiped the hot, wet tears away. This person was the love of his life. He couldn’t let him cry. 

At the action, Baekhyun only cried more and leaned into his touch, cradling his hand to his face and planting soft, feather-like kisses all over it. Jongin cried too. Baekhyun was there. Baekhyun didn’t leave him alone. 

“I’m sorry. I panicked. I’m sorry!” Baekhyun was sobbing, “Don’t... _ hate me. Please.” _

Jongin clasped Baekhyun’s hands strongly, “I could never. Baekhyun, I - I love you.”

“I love you too!”

Jongin let out a wet laugh. Baekhyun laughed too, but then he started crying adorably, apologizing repeatedly. Jongin smiled. 

“Please don’t cry. If I don’t get life imprisonment, I’d get you strawberries.”

Baekhyun’s laugh made everything worthwhile. 


	12. Sorry

They sat there, for more than two hours, talking on the floor of the jail. It was suddenly the best place to be. Anywhere with Baekhyun was the best place to be. They talked about all the lives Baekhyun remembered - till the last one, the one where he ended his life. They cried, they laughed. They couldn’t get together in any life. Sometimes, it was homophobia, or some rich family, or some unprecedented adopted children, or some weird royalty, or being rivals - they couldn’t. Even if they did, someone died or had some disease, or lost sanity. It was a never-ending list. And Baekhyun had lived his last life, knowing every detail of his previous lives. And then, he… had ended his life, and Jongin had lived the last of his life happily with someone else. 

“But, we have a chance now.” Jongin said, “Baekhyun, we can do this.” 

The grim-reaper didn’t say anything.

“I want to!” Jongin insisted, “Even if, you have to keep visiting me in jail for a lifetime, I - I still want to.”

Baekhyun frowned, “That won’t be necessary.” He got up, looking around before he winked at Jongin, “Watch this.” 

  
He went to the guards that had captured Jongin - there were only five people in the constable, all of them sitting near each other. Two were asleep. Baekhyun went to the asleep ones and put a hand on their heads, and suddenly the sleeping men lurched before continuing to snore. He snapped his fingers, and L, Mihawk-ie-uwu and Cherry walked in, looking scared out of their lives. 

Jongin stared widely at them, with raised eyebrows.

“We were just waiting outside.” Mihawk-ie-uwu explained, “We didn’t want to completely leave you alone.”

Jongin’s eyes welled up with tears but he refused to cry, and he saw how L picked up a chair and moved it. The three policemen stiffened. 

“Kim? Was that you?” One of them said. 

Another one, the man that Jongin supposed was Kim, hit him in the back of the head, “I’m here you doofus.”

And then all three picked up a chair. The men screamed, and the prisoners woke up before Baekhyun went and quickly put a hand on their heads - on everyone that was in the constable except for the ghosts and Jongin - and muttered something. And soon, everybody fell asleep. 

Then he went to the cameras and did the same, and took the file of Jongin’s arrest that was to be opened in court tomorrow, and tore it into shreds. He took the key off Kim and opened the lock of Jongin’s cell.

“There!” He chirped, “They won’t remember a thing, tomorrow. And there is no evidence. Let’s get out of here.”


	13. Soulmate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The last chapter :')

That night, they entered Jongin’s house laughing and red and so,  _ so  _ happy.  _ Soulmate.  _ The word was more than just a lover. Baekhyun was suddenly Jongin’s everything. And he felt amazing as he was  _ sure  _ that the feeling was reciprocated. It was a new...sensation. His fingertips tingled with energy, and his soul was submerged in happiness. 

They sat in the balcony, holding hands and giggling.

“You patted everyone’s head,” Jongin pouted, “But not mine!”

Baekhyun giggled and moved forward to pat his head cutely. And then his soft hands weaved through Jongin’s hair, causing him immense pleasure. He couldn’t help but tip forward and kiss those pink, beautiful lips in front of him. And they kissed. It wasn’t anything very  _ daring  _ but rather very sweet and meaningful. It was...amazing. 

  
When they separated, Baekhyun blushed and buried his face into Jongin’s chest. And Jongin encased him in his arms. Baekhyun was so soft...Sure, he was a little cold, because blood didn’t run through his veins, but Jongin coud warm them up. 

They watched the sunrise together. 

“We’ve been through so many sad endings in the past,” Baekhyun started, still in Jongin’s arms, where he belonged, “So, it’s nice to begin happily together.”

Jongin couldn’t help it. The look Baekhyun was giving him was way too pure. He moved forward and grabbed his chin and kissed him deeply, trying to convey just how much he was feeling at that moment. He was overwhelmed by his emotions, and he tried to convey it all. Baekhyun responded with the same zeal. 

And as, Jongin kissed the cold skin under the sun, he felt Baekhyun’s body heating up more and more. And when he put his head on Baekhyun’s chest, he felt it - 

_ Lub. Dub. Lub. Dub.  _

Jongin pulled back, staring at Baekhyun with wide eyes - 

“You - you’re - you’re not a grim-reaper anymore.” 

Baekhyun’s droopy eyes widened and he straightened up, and they saw it happen in front of their eyes. The scythe melted into colours of black, gold and silver and the robes that he wore turned into black feathers that changed into hundreds of black crows with gold eyes and flew away in a flurry whirly gust of wind. 

Baekhyun was human. That was Jongin’s concern. He was  _ human.  _

But that didn’t seem to be Baekhyun’s concern. The previously-grim-reaper led out a shrill shriek and Jongin panicked and started to see if anything was wrong, and well...let’s just say he saw a  _ lot,  _ that would make him blush for months upcoming. 

It seemed like the robe was the only thing Baekhyun was wearing. 

  
And with that gone, well…

Baekhyun pulled his knees to his chest and continued to let out one shriek after another, and when Jongin came to help him, he scratched his skin with long nails. Jongin rushed into his room, blushing and feeling hot all over -  _ it wasn’t his fault, Baekhyun was so pretty and white with nice, soft skin with pink -  _ No, he couldn’t be thinking about this.  _ Baekhyun was a strawberry, with nice legs and a cute -  _ No. No. No. 

Jongin picked up a blanket and ran back to the balcony. Baekhyun was still curled up, with his eyes shut, and even though he was naked, Jongin found the sight to be adorable. He draped the blanket on his back and shut his eyes as he sat behind Baekhyun and pushed the blanket towards his chest, making sure Baekhyun was entirely covered. 

His own nice, fluffy, cute, little (dare he say,  _ sexy)  _ strawberry cocoon of human adorableness. 

His boyfriend.

His love. 

And...his soulmate. 

He kissed Baekhyunnie on the top of his head, hugging him tighter.

  
  


(Later, Baekhyun started crying as he saw the gash on Jongin’s cheek that he made, and mentally berated himself for three hours straight for being so embarrassing. Jongin thought it was all really cute. It was all, after Baekhyun got new clothes that Jongin bought, and only later did Jongin notice that Baekhyun was covered by his strawberry blanket. A human strawberry. His human strawberry.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment


	14. Epilogue : Smile

EPILOGUE   
  


“Nini!” Jongin steadied himself for what was about to follow, and sure enough, a heap of human jumped into his lap. Baekhyun’s newly dyed pink hair flopped around his head. The strawberry had a pout on his face. 

“What is it?” He pecked Baekhyun’s lips. 

“Kyungsoo’s bullying me,” Baekhyun complained, “He said that even if we plan to go out of the country and if I manage to get a break from med school, we won’t be able to because of my documents. They are kind of mysterious, since I literally became human three years ago.”

Baekhyun seemed to be really sad. Jongin gave him a smile, and continued to kiss him, while letting his hands roam under that black sweatshirt that he was wearing, with strawberry patterns of course. Baekhyun’s love for strawberries was comparable to his love for Jongin. He’d told the dancer that in his first life, he was a bullied kid and Jongin had given him strawberries to eat, thus, he’d never stopped liking them since that day. It was awfully sweet, and Jongin loved buying strawberries for him. 

Baekhyun sensing that Jongin wasn’t listening, started squirming in his lap, “Are you even listening?”

Jongin kissed his neck, “Uh huh.”

“So, we can’t go?” Baekhyun pulled back, staring at Jongin with his sad puppy eyes. 

Jongin sighed, “We will.” And he started kissing the med student again, letting his hands roam freely under Baekhyun’s shirt. The strawberry was blushing, but he was still worried about the damn trip. 

“But, my documents -”

He pulled away once more, and Jongin whined, “Ah! Come on. I miss you. Let meeeee.”

Baekhyun huffed and pouted, before straddling Jongin, and throwing his hoodie off, revealing his naked skin, “You’re a child.”

“You’re beautiful.”

Baekhyun blushed, “But Jongin, I want to go on a trip -”

Jongin leaned forward and bit one of his nipples. Baekhyun let out a high-pitched moan. The dancer smirked and twisted the nipple with his teeth.

“J-Jongin!” He protested, “We’re in the living room!”

Jongin rolled his eyes and grabbed Baekhyun’s thighs, lifting him up, “Alright, princess. Let’s go to bed.” Baekhyun really looked like a strawberry - a very shy and cute one at that. Also, a very delicious one as Jongin couldn’t wait to eat him up. 

He lay Baekhyun down on the bed,  _ carefully _ . He couldn’t afford to hurt him, and jumped on top of him, hovering, as he kissed each and every part of Baekhyun’s body that was in his reach. The strawberry just blushed and hid his face. He was really shy. He had admitted that he hated how red his face became and how high his moans were. But that was all that Jongin loved, and he loved reminding Baekhyun of this. 

He gently pried the hands away, “Let me see your face, Baek.”

Baekhyun complied and they stared at each other for a while, flustered and hot, before Baekhyun leaned up and kissed his full lips. It was a sweet kiss. 

When they separated, the strawberry smiled prettily, eyes crinkling and mouth so cute, “I love you.”

“...”

“I love you a lot. Very much. Very, very, very, very, very  _ very  _ much!” Baekhyun breathed out.

Jongin stared at him before chuckling and laying his head onto Baekhyun’s naked chest, “Well, looks like you’re seriously a grim-reaper. Cause I just felt my heart stop for a second.”

Baekhyun just laughed sweetly, and pulled him in for another kiss. 

“I love you too,” Jongin whispered into his ear, “Allow me to show how much.” 

He opened Baekhyun’s pants. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


“Nini!” Baekhyun whined in his arms. They were naked, tired, happy, full and cuddling. And Jongin really didn’t want this moment to go away. 

“What is it?”

Baekhyun looked up with worried eyes, “My documents…” He was such a cute guy. It wasn’t good for Jongin’s heart.

“Well, time to call the ghost gang.”

  
  
  
  


“Nini, one more thing.”

“Yeah?”

“Will they listen to me? I mean, I’m not a grim-reaper now.”

Jongin laughed and squeezed Baekhyun, “They’re scared shitless of you. They still think of you as the scythe-wielder, like most people.”

Baekhyun' frown didn’t cease and he whispered, “Do you?”

Jongin smiled, “Well for me, you’re the strawberry with a scythe. And that’s never changing.”

He kissed Baekhyun, and the frown on Baekhyun’s face finally disappeared. They fell asleep, peacefully, waking up to a new tomorrow. Jongin was Baekhyun’s. And Baekhyun was always Jongin’s strawberry with a scythe. The world was beautiful. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> twitter - iexoeris  
Please comment. Im desperate.

**Author's Note:**

> I really hope you enjoyed that! 
> 
> Please comment!
> 
> My twitter is - iexoeris.


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